Blur — Instant (U)Turn target nontoken creature face-down. (It's a 2/2 creature.)"You misunderstand me. When I say they will erase your identity if they capture you, I don't just mean that you will no longer be able to remember who you are. I also mean that no one will ever be able to recognize you again."—Qil'dari, to Skorinoth

I'm interested in this card's power level. It's certainly better than Pongify/Rapid Hybridization, not only because it leaves the creature's controller with a 2/2 rather than a 3/3, but also because it doesn't trigger any death or ETB triggers. But I don't think either of those cards ever saw any tournament play, and this has a certain elegance that they lack. Anyway, I think it would be effectively unplayable at . Do you guys think it's too powerful?

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One eye open to see the truth of the world.

One eye closed to gaze at the goddess within.

Last edited by ParadOxymoron on Sun Dec 11, 2016 10:02 pm, edited 3 times in total.

I'm not sure if the effect is better or worse than Reality Shift. The fact that it doesn't remove auras or equipment makes it worse in some scenarios, but it's also much easier to throw it at an attacking or blocking creature and get it killed in combat by a superior creature. I think a lot depends on what else in the set cares about face down creatures.

You know, it was actually me thinking about Fate Reforged that inspired this card, and I skimmed the spoiler to make sure it hadn't already been made, but apparently I glazed right over the relevant card. That's certainly a more apt comparison, and I hadn't thought about attachments sticking to the creature or not. Ultimately, I like my card more, and I think it has something at 1 CMC that it just wouldn't have at 2. It's a shame that the "1C is too little and 2C is too much… How about CC?" trick doesn't work between C and 1C.

Seeker of Apotheosis — Creature — Human Cleric (M)LifelinkWhen Seeker of Apotheosis dies, exile it.Whenever you gain life, if Seeker of Apotheosis is in exile, put an ascension counter on it. Then, if it has seven or more ascension counters on it, return it to the battlefield as a God with base power and toughness 20/20.As long as Seeker of Apotheosis is a God, it has flying and indestructible.1/1

Perfect originality is overrated and often ugly. The best and most beautiful cards I've ever seen were clearly inspired by something else. Cards are not entirely unlike living organisms in this regard. All the good ones are a result of long evolution; the 'original' ones are either monocellular or mutant aberrations.

Talk about telling a story with a card! Where's my flavor text?! Needs.the.text.of.flavor.

I tend to feel that if a card does such a good job of telling a story with a rules text, it needn't (and maybe oughtn't) have flavor text anyway. But since you insist:

They all had laughed when he spoke of heaven. Now, he looked down on them from it.

Quote:

There is a ton of design space here. Maybe not an entire set, but a sub theme for sure.

It's funny you should say that! I actually first came up with this for the 6th qualifying round of the YMtC Pro Tour (that was your best criteria of the whole thing imho btw, razor), but then I saw that AzureShade had pretty much already done the same thing, except with Spirits instead of Gods. So, from its inception, this general mechanic has been imagined with an entire set of apotheosis-based themes surrounding it. Ever since God became a creature type, the idea of a more-flavorful, more-Timmytastic Serra Ascendant has been kicking around in my head. I'm glad you like it!

I'm having trouble thinking of where I would go after that one card, though… Divinity counters would probably go really well in a Titanomachy-themed set. But when everything is a god, none of them are special, so there'd have to be a bunch of mortals, too… and what can I do flavorfully in a set with gods and mortals that Theros hasn't already done better?

Design a set chronicling Gods in their home realm. So everything is essentially mythic. Then you can have a follow up set with the mortals, having lots of references to their "myths" which are the stories presented in the first set. Or do it the other way around, with the mortals first.

Astral Abolishment — Instant (U)Exile target creature or spell."The three Baymen took note that the cloud wall agitated about two miles in the distance. It thundered, churned, flowed, boiled, crackled, screamed, and sang—a rapids set perfectly on edge."—Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale

You guys don't need to know this, but I had a psychotic breakdown a couple months ago. That's where I was this December: in the psych ward. I'm truly much better now. I finally hit the bottom that I'd been asking for. Who knows if that was truly necessary, but I certainly never have to go back there ever again.

I mention this because the specifics of my delusions were that there are quite literally three cosmic titans, like the head of Knowhere in Guardians of the Galaxy. One was a mother-goddess of fertility and benevolence (), another was a genderless void-beast who hungrily sucked in everything it could and was the source of all death and decay (), and the third was a masculine wizard-trickster type not unlike The Doctor (), who served as an intermediary/buffer/messenger between the other two, who are estranged at the moment. And since a second to them is an eon to us, they'll be estranged (in all likelihood) for the entire collective lifespan of the human race. I reasoned (was it reason? was I drawing cards? discarding? exiling like prophetic flamespeaker? I couldn't rightly tell) that the stories I create (in worldbuilding on this very forum, but also in other creative areas of my life) have quite actually transcended my mind by entering the minds of others, and that even if I died today, at least my characters would live on in some sense. And I took this further, that our very universe was merely the collective dream of these three titans, and that I was channeling the will of the one in a Shaman King 100% integration sense of things… I really believed all this, and when I told the doctors about it, they officially diagnosed me with psychosis. I proved to myself that I was capable of losing my mind and walking up to the brink of death. It was a very intense 24 hours, but despite its craziness, it's proved to have been a genuine spiritual awakening as well. I've been walking towards the light ever since.

So when talk of Venser reminded me of Venser's Diffusion, and I read the flavor text for the first time…

Well, let's just say that at the very least, it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one whose imagination is liable to carry them away.

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One eye open to see the truth of the world.

One eye closed to gaze at the goddess within.

Last edited by ParadOxymoron on Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:07 am, edited 2 times in total.

You're telling me! I actually quoted the 8th Edition flavor text of Inspiration at them in order to defend myself. I still stand by the veracity of the quote (Madness and genius are separated only by degrees of success), but I've learned that it can definitely be a very dangerous line of thinking. (Because it's a slippery slope from "if only people believed me, there'd be no problem" to "maybe they're the ones who're crazy! they just aren't prepared for my level of brilliance!" to "is it my madness and despair that makes me brilliant? how am I supposed to be creative without delving into the unknowable? and what could be more unknowable than what happens after death?" And anyway, it directly correlates with the bandwagon fallacy, so despite the sense it might start to make from a purely philosophical standpoint, from a psychological one, it just doesn't hold true.)

Yeah I personally beleive some pretty unusual things but they don't effect my normal life yet, so I guess that's the main difference. Then again...monks and stuff. But I digress. Go make some cool cards.

Yeah I personally beleive some pretty unusual things but they don't effect my normal life yet, so I guess that's the main difference. Then again...monks and stuff. But I digress. Go make some cool cards.

You say monks and stuff.... Now I have this picture of a monastery where the monks ponder card design...

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